MOST OUTSTANDING NEW EVENT NOMINEE
XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA VIETNAMESE ASSOCIATION
XULA-GHOULA
Provide a detailed description of the event and the population it served. Details MUST include: date of event, number of participants, program purpose (goals, objectives, etc.), use of resources (finances, community support, etc.), marketing techniques, and amount fundraised.
This was XULAVA's first ever Vietnamese-Halloween-themed event that served both the VSA and Xavier community. It was on Thursday night, October 27, 2022. There were over 20 volunteers and 150 guests. The purpose of this event was to celebrate Halloween, with the incorporation of the late autumn moon festival. We were able to get an approved budget from Xavier's SGA and food donations and discounts from local asian businesses (like restaurants, boba shops, and lion dancing). We gathered the volunteering support of our new freshmen members and other VSA's members in helping with set up, tabling, performing, and clean up. Our marketing techniques were mostly through social media. We had a live countdown post everyday that would also announce part of our programming. We wanted to create a fun and interactive environment, so we hosted a moon pie eating contest, dance performance, costume contest, and a successful fundraiser for CPP at the end.
What inspired your organization to create this new event?
We wanted to celebrate the mid-autumn moon festival and Halloween.
What efforts were used to motivate and involve the organization's members?
We rallied a lot of volunteers. This was our first major event of the year, so returning members were excited to be back and new members were looking forward to what XULAVA does.
Did the organization overcome any challenges that arose while planning and implementing the event? How?
Yes, we had a lot of date and room-booking pushbacks due to the school double booking the ballroom location and time. There was little to no time nor room for set up; however, we were able to reorganize ourselves in a way that both let us preset our event without interfering with the other ongoing event. We had called for extra hands-on-deck to make sure everything (set up, programming, clean up) was going to run efficiently on time and in accordance to Xavier's regulations.
